SOS carries more weight when two teams have the same record.

Lets see how totally different these conferences really are,

LSU, Ohio State, Georgia, and Missouri... Each team had two chances to play against other top 15 teams and each team blew both chances (6/8 games were complete blowouts). 4 teams, 3 conferences, same story.

USC and Florida are two teams on opposite sides of the country and both manage to have powerhouse offenses that can put up points at will. Yet these two teams arent that different, both of these teams have slipped up on mediocre in conference opponents.

Clemson, South Florida, Auburn, Kansas, and Pitt all had hopes of a good season and slowly watched their seasons crumble away into nothing. 5 completely different teams in 4 conferences with very similar stories!

Vanderbilt, ECU, and Wisconsin each started the season very well yet have completely collapsed since then.

Texas Tech, Penn State, and Alabama... Each team started the season with other teams from their respective conferences sitting in the spotlight. Yet each team has played through every game on the schedule that was given to them and refused to lose. 3 different conferences, 3 different teams, 1 story.

So perhaps these conferences arent so different, perhaps the problems that occur for one team also occur for another team on the opposite side of the country. Maybe... just maybe.